An Orleans Parish judge Monday sentenced a volunteer lawyer with the public defender's office to 30 days in jail -- all suspended except for one day -- and to an ethics course for contempt of court.

Judge Frank Marullo gave Steve Singer 24 hours in jail, having ruled last week that Singer violated his order that the public defender program remove itself from a case in his section.

But just as a deputy placed a handcuff on Singer's wrist, Marullo agreed to allow him time to appeal .

Singer is free on bond.

The contempt-of-court conviction, a misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail, stems from a recent clash between Singer and Marullo over a case in which the judge ruled that a suspect wasn't eligible for a free attorney.

"No judge wants to be in this position, to discipline a lawyer," said Marullo from the bench. "But fair administration of justice has to be protected. (Lawyers) have to have the proper ethics and professionalism."

What Marullo called attorney discipline Singer chalked up to personal payback for his work in revamping the public defender system after it fell apart, financially strapped and down to only seven lawyers, in the days after Hurricane Katrina struck.

Singer was one of the leaders who recruited lawyers from outside Louisiana and found the program a new office. The group also changed policies on how defense attorneys are placed in courtrooms, a change that Singer said stripped away patronage power the judges once had at Tulane and Broad.

"Judge Marullo does not like the reforms of (the public defender's office)," Singer said after the hearing. "He's angry that he doesn't run the public defender's office anymore. The system was operated as a judge-friendly system. It catered to the needs of judges rather than the needs of clients."

Singer's former client Reese Sims, 58, is charged with stealing copper and was originally assigned to the public defender's office. But after Marullo declared him financially able to hire his own attorney, Singer angered the judge by introducing Sims to a Loyola Law Clinic lawyer who agreed to do the case pro bono.

Singer teaches at Loyola Law School and, until last month, worked at the pro bono law clinic.

Prosecutors Matthew Whitworth and Matthew Bourque testified last week that an investigator for the public defender's office was working on the Sims case earlier this month. Marullo in August ordered Sims to hire a private attorney.

Challenging the judge

Singer, who says he has never been paid for the time he spent rebuilding the public defender's program, defied Marullo in open court before receiving his sentence.

"You're wrong," Singer told Marullo. "You're wrong about the facts, and you're wrong about the law. You're simply dead flat wrong. This is about the loss of control of the public defender's office. You've been trying to hold me in contempt since I joined" the program.

Singer said that Sims lost his house to Hurricane Katrina and is eligible for a public defender.

While Marullo last week announced that Sims owned a house, vehicles and dressed nicely in court, Singer said the man's only asset is a run-down 1994 Buick that isn't fit to drive on the interstate.

"You wouldn't let him tell you that his house was destroyed by Katrina," Singer said. "Every time Mr. Sims tried to explain, you interrupted him and you cut him off. You haven't read the statute correctly."

With that, Marullo told Singer he went about everything the wrong way.

"If you felt that I was wrong in declaring Mr. Sims not indigent, you could have gone to the Court of Appeal," Marullo said. "You chose to disobey a court order. You chose to do what you wanted to do."

Singer's attorney, Herbert Larson, asked the judge to render a "symbolic sentence," such as a fine of $1. If spending a night in jail would improve anything, Larson said, he would approve, calling it a "small price to pay to improve communication" at the courthouse.

"This case is symbolic of a greater lack of communication between aspects of the defense bar and the bench," said Larson, adding that giving Singer jail time won't improve any courthouse relationships.

Ready for jail time

Outside the courthouse Monday, Singer wouldn't answer specific questions about his role in finding Sims an attorney, calling the criminal case a "sideshow" Marullo is using to intimidate people who are reforming the court system. Lawyers have an ethical obligation to try to help former clients find representation, he said.

"Whether I did or I didn't, there's nothing wrong with that," said Singer, who carried a plastic Wal-Mart bag holding a change of clothes into court in anticipation of going to Orleans Parish Prison. "I'm prepared, like a Boy Scout," he said, walking out of the courthouse.

Marullo, as his colleagues on the bench often do, didn't issue a written order in the Sims case. Instead, he ruled from the bench that the public defender's office drop the case.

Singer is due in court next month to face a possible jail stay.

If Marullo's sentence is upheld, Singer must spend a day in Orleans Parish Prison and attend a Louisiana State Bar Association ethics seminar titled "Your P's and Q's."

Marullo said he won't hand down the sentence until Dec. 6.

Gwen Filosa can be reached at gfilosa@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3304.